Electronic Devices Having Sliding Expandable Displays

ABSTRACT

An electronic device may have a housing with portions that slide relative to each other. A display may be supported on a surface of the housing such as on a front face of the housing. The housing portions may slide between an unexpanded state in which the display has an unexpanded viewable area on the front face and an expanded state in which the display has an expanded viewable area on the front face that is greater than the unexpanded viewable area. The housing portions may have interior regions that contain electrical components. The display may be formed from a flexible display substrate. A portion of a flexible display may be stored in an interior region of the housing when the housing is in the unexpanded state. In the unexpanded state, the flexible display may have one or more bends and may double back on itself one or more times.

This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No.16/744,564, filed Jan. 16, 2020, which claims the benefit of provisionalpatent application No. 62/832,217, filed Apr. 10, 2019, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

FIELD

This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, toelectronic devices with displays.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices often include displays. A touch screen display may beused in a cellular telephone or other portable device to displayinformation for a user and to gather user input.

If care is not taken, a display may not offer sufficient screen realestate to display information of interest to a user. At the same time,it can be difficult to enlarge the size of electronic devices too muchto accommodate larger displays, because this can make devices too bulky.

SUMMARY

An electronic device may have a display mounted in a housing. Thehousing may have portions that slide relative to each other. When it isdesired to place the device in a compact unexpanded state, the housingportions may be slid towards each other. When it is desired to expandthe viewable size of the display, the housing portions may be slid awayfrom each other.

The display in the device may be a flexible display such as an organiclight-emitting diode display. The display may be doubled back on itselfonce or twice when it is desired to store a portion of the display. Atensioner may be used to provide the display with tension and therebymaintain the display in a desired shape such as a desired planar shape.

The housing portions that slide relative to each other may haveinterdigitated fingers or other slidably engaged housing structures. Thedisplay may be supported on a surface of the housing such as on a frontface of the housing. The housing and display may be adjusted by a user.For example, the housing portions may slide between an unexpanded statein which the display has an unexpanded viewable area on the front faceand an expanded state in which the display has an expanded viewable areaon the front face that is greater than the unexpanded viewable area.

The electronic device housing may have an interior that containselectrical components. A doubled-back portion of a flexible display maybe stored in an interior of the housing when the housing is in theunexpanded state.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is perspective view of an illustrative electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is side view of an illustrative electronic device with a foldabledisplay in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view of an illustrative electronic device with asliding display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of an illustrative electronic device with ascrolling display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative flexibledisplay structure in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice with a sliding display in an unexpanded position in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional side view of the illustrative electronicdevice of FIG. 8 with the sliding display in an expanded position inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 are side views of illustrative flexible displaystorage configurations with one or more display bends for use inelectronic devices with sliding displays in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a top view of an illustrative flexible display tensioner suchas a coil spring in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice with a sliding display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are perspective views of the illustrative electronicdevice of FIG. 14 in unexpanded and expanded configurations inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice with a sliding display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 18 and 19 are top views of an illustrative expandable electronicdevice housing structure with sliding interdigitated members inrespective unexpanded and expanded configurations in accordance with anembodiment.

FIGS. 20, 21, 22, and 23 are perspective views of illustrativeexpandable electronic device housing structures with slidinginterdigitated members in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 24 is a top view of an illustrative expandable electronic devicehousing structure with supporting side members in accordance with anembodiment.

FIGS. 25, 26, 27, and 28 are cross-sectional views of illustrativesliding structures for expandable electronic device housings inaccordance with embodiments.

FIG. 29 is a top view of an illustrative expandable electronic devicehousing structure showing illustrative locations for electricalcomponents in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a perspective view of an illustrative expandable electronicdevice housing structure with flexible sliding interdigitated members inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a cross-sectional side view of the illustrative expandableelectronic device housing structure of FIG. 30 showing how a flexibledisplay may wrap around an edge of the housing structure and may besupported by the flexible sliding interdigitated members in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a cross-sectional end view of an illustrative sliding devicein accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 33 and 34 are top views of the illustrative sliding device of FIG.32 in unexpanded and expanded states in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An electronic device may have a display. The display may have an arrayof pixels for displaying images for a user. The display may be anorganic light-emitting diode display, a micro-light-emitting diodedisplay formed from an array of crystalline semiconductor light-emittingdiode dies, and/or may be any other suitable display. A two-dimensionaltouch sensor such as a capacitive touch sensor or other touch sensor maybe incorporated into the display (e.g., by forming capacitive sensorelectrodes from thin-film display circuitry) and/or a touch sensor layermay be laminated to an array of pixels in the display.

The display of the electronic device may be operated in unexpanded andexpanded configurations. In the unexpanded configuration, portability ofthe device is enhanced. In the expanded configuration, viewable displayarea is increased, making it easier to provide touch input and to viewimages on the display.

A perspective view of an illustrative electronic device of the type thatmay include an expandable display is shown in FIG. 1. Device 10 may be alaptop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, atablet computer, a desktop computer, a cellular telephone, a mediaplayer, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smallerdevice such as a wristwatch device, a wristband device, a pendantdevice, a headphone or earpiece device, a head-mounted device such asglasses, goggles, a helmet, or other equipment worn on a user's head, orother wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer displaythat does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, anavigation device, an embedded system such as a system in whichequipment is mounted in a kiosk, in an automobile, airplane, or othervehicle, a removable external case for electronic equipment, anaccessory such as a remote control, computer mouse, track pad, wirelessor wired keyboard, or other accessory, and/or equipment that implementsthe functionality of two or more of these devices. In the illustrativeconfiguration of FIG. 1, device 10 is a portable electronic device suchas a cellular telephone or tablet. This configuration may sometimes bedescribed herein as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, device 10 may have a housing such as housing 12.Housing 12 may be formed from materials such as polymer, glass, metal,crystalline materials such as sapphire, ceramic, fabric, foam, wood,other materials, and/or combinations of these materials. Device 10 mayhave any suitable shape. In the example of FIG. 1, device 10 has frontface F, opposing rear face R, and sidewall portions (sidewalls) W.Portions W may be formed as extensions of the housing structures onfront face F, rear face R, and/or may be formed using one or moreseparate sidewall members (as examples). Sidewall structures may beplanar (e.g., to form vertical sidewalls extending between front F andrear R) and/or may have curved cross-sectional profiles. Input-outputdevices such as one or more buttons may be mounted on housing 12 (e.g.,on sidewall portions W).

Device 10 may have one or more displays such as display 14. In theexample of FIG. 1, display 14 covers front face F. Display 14 may alsobe mounted on other portions of device 10. For example, one or moredisplays such as display 14 may cover all of front face F, part of frontface F, some or all of rear face R, and/or some or all of sidewalls W.In some configurations, some or all of display 14 may be covered withflexible or rigid transparent members that serve as protective displaycover layers. Such transparent display cover layer structures, which maysometimes be referred to as housing structures, may overlap at leastsome of display 14 and may serve as a display cover layer. If desired,transparent thin-film structures may serve as protective display layers(e.g., scratch-resistance layers, oleophobic anti-smudge coating layers,etc.).

Display 14 may have a planar shape, a shape with a curvedcross-sectional profile, or other suitable shape. In the example of FIG.1, front face F has a planar shape and lies in the X-Y plane. Display 14may have a rectangular footprint (outline when viewed from above) orother suitable footprint. Device 10 is elongated along longitudinal axis56 (e.g., parallel to the Y axis of FIG. 1). The thickness of device 10in dimension Z, may be less than the width of device 10 in dimension Xand less than the length of device 10 in dimension Y (as an example).

To help accommodate a user's desire for compactness while accommodatinga user's desire for large amounts of display real estate, device 10 canhave structures that allow the shape and size of device 10 and display14 to be adjusted. In particular, device 10 may have a display andassociated housing structures that support folding motions, slidingmotions, scrolling motions, and/or other behavior that allows device 10to be adjusted during use.

When compact size is desired, device 10 can be adjusted to be compact.Device 10 and display 14 may, as an example, be folded inwardly oroutwardly about bend axis 58. As another example, sliding or scrollingdisplay structures can be retracted so that device size is minimized.

When a large screen size is desired, device 10 and display 14 can beunfolded (in a configuration in which device 10 is foldable) or display14 can be expanded laterally in one or more directions such as direction52 (parallel to longitudinal axis 56) or direction 54 (e.g., a lateraldirection that is perpendicular to longitudinal axis 56 andperpendicular to the thickness of device 10). Device 10 and display 14may, for example, be expanded by sliding portions of device 10 (anddisplay 14) along axis 56 or axis 54 or by unscrolling a scrolledflexible display in direction 52 or direction 54.

When expanded, display 14 exhibits an expanded viewable area. Inparticular, the portion of display 14 that is viewable by a user ofdevice 10 when device 10 is expanded (sometimes referred to as theexpanded viewable area of display 14) is larger than the unexpandedviewable area of display 14 that is presented to a user of device 10when device 10 is unexpanded. In general, device 10 may use any suitablearrangement that allows display and/or device size and/or shape to beadjusted (e.g., between a first configuration such as an unexpandedviewable area configuration in which a first amount of display 14 isvisible to a user viewing the front face of device 10 or other side ofdevice 10 and a second configuration such as an expanded viewable areaconfiguration in which a second amount of display 14 that is greaterthan the first amount is visible to a user viewing the front face ofdevice 10 or other side of device 10). These arrangements may exhibitinward and/or outward folding, scrolling, sliding, and/or other housingand display movements as device 10 and display 14 are transitionedbetween unexpanded and expanded states.

A schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device is shown inFIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, device 10 may include control circuitry 30,communications circuitry 32, and input-output devices 34.

Control circuitry 30 may include storage and processing circuitry forsupporting the operation of device 10. The storage and processingcircuitry may include storage such as nonvolatile memory (e.g., flashmemory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured toform a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamicrandom-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in control circuitry 30may be used to gather input from sensors and other input devices and maybe used to control output devices. The processing circuitry may be basedon one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, baseband processors and other wireless communicationscircuits, power management units, audio chips, application specificintegrated circuits, etc.

To support communications between device 10 and external electronicequipment, control circuitry 30 may communicate using communicationscircuitry 32. Communications circuitry 32 may include antennas,radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, and other wireless communicationscircuitry and/or wired communications circuitry. Circuitry 32, which maysometimes be referred to as control circuitry and/or control andcommunications circuitry, may, for example, support wirelesscommunications using wireless local area network links, near-fieldcommunications links, cellular telephone links, millimeter wave links,and/or other wireless communications paths.

Input-output devices 34 may be used in gathering user input, ingathering information on the environment surrounding the user, and/or inproviding a user with output.

Display 14 of input-output devices 34 has an array of pixels fordisplaying images to users. Display 14 may be a light-emitting diodedisplay (e.g., an organic light-emitting diode or a display with a pixelarray having light-emitting diodes formed from crystalline semiconductordies), an electrophoretic display, a liquid crystal display, or otherdisplay. Display 14 may include a two-dimensional capacitive touchsensor or other touch sensor for gathering touch input. Display 14 mayhave a substrate formed from a flexible dielectric (e.g., a sheet ofpolyimide or other bendable polymer layer) and/or may have rigidsubstrate structures. Flexible display arrangements may be used toprovide display 14 with the ability to alter size and shape by folding,scrolling, sliding, etc. If desired, some or all of display 14 mayinclude rigid (non-flexible) display structures.

Devices 34 may include sensors 36. Sensors 36 may include force sensors(e.g., strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors,etc.), audio sensors such as microphones, capacitive touch sensors,capacitive proximity sensors, non-capacitive touch sensors, ultrasonicsensors, sensors for detecting position, orientation, and/or motion(e.g., accelerometers, magnetic sensors such as compass sensors,gyroscopes, and/or inertial measurement units that contain some or allof these sensors), muscle activity sensors (EMG), heart rate sensors,electrocardiogram sensors, and other biometric sensors, radio-frequencysensors (e.g., radar and other ranging and positioning sensors),humidity sensors, moisture sensors, and/or other sensors.

Sensors 36 and other input-output devices 34 may include opticalcomponents such as light-emitting diodes (e.g., for camera flash orother blanket illumination, etc.), lasers such as vertical cavitysurface emitting lasers and other laser diodes, laser components thatemit multiple parallel laser beams (e.g., for three-dimensionalsensing), lamps, and light sensing components such as photodetectors anddigital image sensors. For example, sensors 36 in devices 34 may includeoptical sensors such as depth sensors (e.g., structured light sensorsand/or depth sensors based on stereo imaging devices that can opticallysense three-dimensional shapes), optical sensors such as self-mixingsensors and light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors that gathertime-of-flight measurements and/or other measurements to determinedistance between the sensor and an external object and/or that candetermine relative velocity, monochromatic and/or color ambient lightsensors that can measure ambient light levels, proximity sensors basedon light (e.g., optical proximity sensors that include light sourcessuch as infrared light-emitting diodes and/or lasers and correspondinglight detectors such as infrared photodetectors that can detect whenexternal objects are within a predetermined distance), optical sensorssuch as visual odometry sensors that gather position and/or orientationinformation using images gathered with digital image sensors in cameras,gaze tracking sensors, visible light and/or infrared cameras havingdigital image sensors configured to gather image data, optical sensorsfor measuring ultraviolet light, and/or other optical sensor components(e.g., light sensitive devices and, if desired, light sources),photodetectors coupled to light guides, associated light emitters,and/or other optical components (one or more light-emitting devices, oneor more light-detecting devices, etc.).

Input-output devices 34 may also include audio components. The audiocomponents may include one or more microphones to sense sound (e.g., anaudio sensor in sensors 36 to sense audio signals) and may includesound-emitting components such as tone generators and one or morespeakers. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, input-output devices 34 mayinclude speaker 38. Speakers may be used to support speaker-phoneoperations and/or may be used as ear speakers when device 10 is beingheld to a user's ear to make a telephone call, to listen to a voicemailmessage, or to listen to other audio output.

In addition to sensors 36, display 14, and speaker 38, input-outputdevices 34 may include user input devices such as buttons and otherdevices 40. Devices 40 may include, for example, optical components suchas light-based output devices other than display 14 that are used toprovide visual output to a user. The light-based output devices mayinclude one or more light-emitting diodes, one or more lasers, lamps,electroluminescent devices, and/or other light emitting components. Thelight-based output devices may form status indicator lights. If desired,the light-based output devices may include illuminated icons (e.g.,backlight symbols associated with power indicators, battery chargeindicators, wireless signal strength indicators, notification icons,etc.).

Devices 40 may include electromagnets, permanent magnets, structuresformed from magnetic material (e.g., iron bars or other ferromagneticmembers that are attracted to magnets such as electromagnets and/orpermanent magnets), batteries, etc. Devices 40 may also include powertransmitting and/or receiving circuits configured to transmit and/orreceive wired and/or wireless power signals and output components suchas haptic output devices and other output components (e.g.,electromagnetic actuators or other actuators that can vibrate to providea user with a haptic alert and/or haptic feedback associated withoperation of a touch sensor or other input devices).

A cross-sectional side view of device 10 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 3.As shown in FIG. 3, housing 12 may have one or more portions such assidewall portions 12W, front portion 12F on front face F of device 10,and rear portion 12R on rear face R of device 10. These portions may beformed from metal (e.g., aluminum, stainless steel, or other metals) ormay be formed from polymer, glass, ceramic, and/or other materials.

Display 14 may be visible on front face F of device 10 and/or otherportions of device 10. For example, a viewer who is viewing device 10 inthe −Z direction of FIG. 3 (e.g., a user viewing device 10 from thefront) may view the pixels of display 14 on front face F that face theuser in the +Z direction). Display 14 may be overlapped by transparentportions of housing 12, may have portions that are supported on theoutermost surface of housing 12, and/or may have portions that protrudefrom housing 12. In some configurations, rigid protective transparentmaterials may form a display cover layer that protects display 14.Display 14 may also be protected by attaching protective thin films tothe outermost surface of display 14 and/or by incorporating protectivethin films into display 14. As an example, a clear polymer film mayoverlap the pixels of display 14 to help protect the circuitry of thepixels from damage and/or thin-film organic and/or inorganic layers maybe incorporated into display 14 to help protect display 14. In somearrangements, display 14 may include flexible protective material (e.g.,a bendable polymer thin film, bendable inorganic thin-film layers,etc.). Transparent materials that may overlap display 14 (e.g., toprotect display 14) may be formed from sapphire or other crystallinematerial, glass, polymer, transparent ceramic, inorganic dielectricmaterials such as transparent metal oxide thin films and/or otherinorganic materials, and/or other transparent material and/or otherflexible and/or rigid transparent materials.

The walls of housing 12 may separate interior region 44 of device 10from exterior region 50 surrounding device 10. Interior region 44 mayinclude components such as components 46. Components 46 may includeintegrated circuits, discrete components, a battery, wireless circuitcomponents such as a wireless power coil, and/or other components (see,e.g., control circuitry 30, communications circuitry 32, andinput-output devices 34 of FIG. 2). Components 46 may be interconnectedusing signal paths such as paths formed from traces on printed circuits(see, e.g., printed circuit 48).

To accommodate the sometimes competing desires for compact device sizeand large screen size, device 10 can be adjusted between a first statein which display 14 is unexpanded and a second state in which display 14is expanded and therefore larger than when unexpanded.

With one illustrative arrangement, device 10 accommodates displaybending. Display 14 may, for example, be folded inwardly so that leftand right halves of display 14 face each other (e.g., when display 14 isformed on surface 62 of housing 12 of FIG. 4). Display 14 may also befolded outwardly so that left and right halves of display 14 face awayfrom each other (e.g., when display 14 is formed on surface 60 ofhousing 12 of FIG. 4). If desired, device 10 may support both inward andoutward folding.

Arrangements in which device 10 allows display 14 to be changed in sizeusing sliding motions may also be used. As shown in FIG. 5, for example,device 10 may be adjusted so that structures in device 10 and display 14slide (in direction 52 or other suitable direction) between a first(unexpanded) configuration in which only display area 14′ is visible anda second (expanded) configuration in which both display area 14′ anddisplay area 14″ are visible.

FIG. 6 is a side view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich display 14 is sufficiently flexible to be scrolled. This allowsdisplay 14 to move in and out of housing 12. In an unexpandedconfiguration, display 14 is rolled up and stored in housing 12 of FIG.6. In an expanded configuration, display 14 is enlarged by unscrollingdisplay 14 in direction 52 and causing display 14 to extend out ofhousing 12. Other arrangements that allow display 14 to be changed insize and/or shape may also be used and/or combinations of thesearrangements and/or the arrangements of FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 may be used.

If desired, display 14 may have an array of light-emitting pixels P.This type of arrangement is shown in FIG. 7. In the example of FIG. 7,display 14 includes substrate 71A, pixel array 71B, and covering layer71C. Substrate 71A may be formed from a sheet of polyimide, otherflexible polymer layer, or other dielectric. Substrate 71A may becovered by thin-film layers forming pixels P and other thin-filmcircuitry. Pixels P may include thin-film transistors 78, thin-filmcapacitors, thin-film light-emitting diodes 76 such as organiclight-emitting diodes, and/or other thin-film circuitry. If desired, anarray of pixels P for display 14 may be formed from micro-light-emittingdiodes (sometimes referred to as microLEDs) formed from crystallinesemiconductor dies. These dies may be mounted on a flexible substrate.One or more encapsulation layers such a layer 71C may be used to protectand environmentally seal pixels P. Layer(s) 71C may include organicand/or inorganic dielectric layers (e.g., thin-film layers). Additionallayers such as one or more support layers on the rear of display 14(see, e.g., backing layer 70) and/or one or more outwardly facing layerson the outwardly facing side of display 14 (see, e.g., layer 72) may beattached to display 14, if desired (e.g., using layers of adhesive, byforming thin-film layers directly on display 14 and/or by incorporatingother layers overlapped by the pixels P into display 14). Backing layerssuch a layer 70 may be formed from metal (e.g., thin flexible metal thatcan withstand repeated bending and unbending), may be formed frompolymer, may be formed from other materials, and/or may be formed fromcombinations of these materials. During bending, layers such as layer 70may help protect display 14 from wrinkling or other potentially damagingdeformation. Additional layer(s) 72 may include polarizer layers, waveplates, filters, protective cover layers, privacy films, and/or otherdisplay layers.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice with a display that is expandable using a sliding motion. Housing12 of device 10 of FIG. 8 has portions such as first portion 12-1 andsecond portion 12-2. Portions 12-1 and 12-2 may slide towards and awayfrom each other. In the arrangement of FIG. 8, portions 12-1 and 12-2have been placed adjacent to each other so that device 10 and display 14are in an unexpanded state. Display 14 is a flexible display and may bedeployed from interior 44 to exterior 50 through opening 86 (e.g., aslot) in housing 12 using roller 80 or other suitable deploymentmechanism. Roller 80 may be coupled to housing 12 by an axle (as anexample) and may rotate relative to housing 12. In the unexpanded stateof FIG. 8, display has a first portion 14-1 that is viewable fromexterior 50 of device 10 and has a second portion 14-2 that is housedwithin interior 44 and is not viewable from exterior 50. Display 14 may,for example, have one or more bends (folds) that allow display 14 todouble back on itself so that portion 14-2 may be stored in interior 44.Housing portions 12-1 and 12-2 (e.g., the upper surfaces of thesestructures) may be used to help support display 14 and maintain display14 in a desired shape such as a planar shape. A stretchable elastomericmember, spring, or other tensioner such as tensioner 82 may be coupledbetween a portion of housing portion 12-1 (see, e.g., attachmentstructure 84) and an end of display portion 14-2 to help tension display14 and thereby maintain display 14 in a desired shape (e.g., a planarshape on the surface of housing 12).

When it is desired to extend the area of display 14, housing portion12-2 may be moved away (e.g., slid away) from housing portion 12-1 indirection 52, as shown in FIG. 9. Supporting portions 12-3 of housing 12(e.g., rails or other structures associated with housing portion 12-1,associated with housing portion 12-2, and/or other portions of housing12) may be used to help maintain portion 12-2 in a desired orientationrelative to portion 12-1 (e.g., supporting portions 12-3 may be used tomaintain angular alignment between portions 12-1 and 12-2). By slidinghousing portions 12-1 and 12-2 apart, display 14 may be placed in itsexpanded state. As shown in FIG. 9, portion 14-2 of display 14 may beremoved from interior 44 through opening 86 during expansion, so thatthe visible area of display 14 in an expanded viewing area configurationincludes both portion 14-1 and portion 14-2. Tensioner 82 (e.g., aspring) may expand (e.g., by stretching, etc.) to accommodate movementof portion 14-2 out of interior 44 while providing tension to helpflatten display 14 on the outer surface of housing 12.

FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 are cross-sectional side views of display 14showing shapes in which display 14 (e.g., display portion 14-2) may bestored (e.g., in interior 44). Display 14 may be placed in theseunexpanded configurations when it is desired to reduce the size ofdevice 10. In the example, of FIG. 10, display 14 has been doubled backon itself using a single bend. This doubled-back display configuration,which is used in the example of FIGS. 8 and 9, allows one half ofdisplay 14 to be viewed when display 14 is unexpanded and allows bothhalves of display 14 to be viewed when display 14 is expanded. In theexample of FIG. 11, display has two bends and is doubled back on itselftwice when placed in its unexpanded (folded) configuration. A third ofdisplay 14 or other suitable portion of display 14 may be viewable whendisplay 14 is unexpanded in this arrangement. When fully expanded, thefolded back portions of display 14 of FIG. 11 may be drawn out of theinterior of housing 12 through opening 86 and thereby expanded forviewing by a user. A pair of rollers such as roller 80 of FIG. 8 may beused to retract and deploy display 14 in two-bend (twice doubled-back)storage arrangements. Another illustrative storage configuration fordisplay 14 is shown in FIG. 12. In the example of FIG. 12, display 14 isalso bent back twice (as with the arrangement of FIG. 11), but bothbends are inward bends (inward folds), whereas in the arrangement ofFIG. 11, display 14 is first bent inwardly and is then bent in theopposite direction. A pair of rollers at opposing ends of the interiorportion of a device housing structure may be used to help store anddeploy display 14 in arrangements of the type shown in FIG. 12.Tensioners may be used (e.g., by coupling springs or other tensioners 82to the interior ends of display 14 of FIG. 11 and/or FIG. 12) to helptension display 14 when display 14 is in the unexpanded and expandedstates.

The examples of FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 are illustrative. If desired,display 14 may be stored using other arrangements. For example, display14 may be wrapped multiple times around a single roller, may slide intoin interior portion of housing 12 without bending, and/or may otherwisebe stowed when it is desired to place display 14 in its unexpandedstate. When display 14 is doubled back on itself so that display 14 hasone or two bends and associated doubled-back planar sections, display 14may avoid some of the stress that might otherwise be experienced bywrapping display 14 repeatedly about a roller.

Tensioner 82 may be a flat spring, a clock spring, a leaf spring, anextension spring, a compression spring, a coil spring, a stretchableelastomeric member, and/or other suitable tensioning device. A top viewof an illustrative tensioner formed from a coil spring is shown in FIG.13. As shown in FIG. 13, the coil spring forming tensioner 82, which maysometimes be referred to as a torsion spring, may have a helical springmember such as member 89 attached to an interior support in device 10such as support 84 at attachment point 92. Helical spring member 89,which may be formed from a material such as spring metal, may have anopposing end that is attached to roller 90 at point 94. Roller 90 mayhave an axle coupled to housing 12 and may rotate about rotational axis96. Coupling member 98 (e.g., a flexible band) may wrap around roller 90and may be attached to the edge of flexible display 14. When spring 82is relaxed, coupling member 98 will be retracted towards spring 82 andwrapped around roller 90. In this state, display portion 14-2 will beretracted into housing interior 44, as shown in FIG. 8. When display 14is pulled out of interior 44 in response to sliding apart housingportions 12-1 and 12-2, coupling member 98 will unwrap from roller 90while tightening helical spring member 89. Other types of tensioningmechanisms may be used to tension the edges of display 14, if desired.The coil spring example of FIG. 13 is illustrative.

Housing portions 12-1 and 12-2 may be the same size, housing portion12-1 may be larger than housing portion 12-2, or housing portion 12-2may be larger than housing portion 12-1. Housing portions 12-1 and 12-2may have the same shape (or nearly the same shape) or may have differentshapes that engage with each other. In the illustrative example of FIG.14, housing portion 12-2 has a thin protruding portion 12-2P (formedfrom one or more strip-shaped members) that extends over a box-shapedstructure forming main housing portion 12-1. Electrical components maybe mounted in the interior of portion 12-1 and/or portion 12-2. Forexample, a battery, control circuitry, and other components may bemounted in the interior of main housing portion 12-1 in the example ofFIG. 14.

As described in connection with FIGS. 8 and 9, display 14 of FIG. 14 maybe a flexible display that extends around internal roller 80 duringstorage of display 14 in housing 12 when display 14 is in its unexpandedstate. When display 14 is in its unexpanded state, a first portion ofdisplay 14 is visible, as shown in FIG. 15. When portion 12-2 is slidaway from portion 12-1, protruding portion 12-2P slides off of the uppersurface of portion 12-1 and display 14 is drawn out of the interior ofportion 12-1 through opening 86. The places display 14 in its expandedstate, as shown in FIG. 16.

If desired, a protruding structure in one portion of housing 12 may bereceived within a recess of another portion of housing 12. Consider, asan example, the arrangement of FIG. 17. In the example of FIG. 17,housing portion 12-1 has a recess formed between lower structure 12-1P′and upper structure 12-1P. When display 14 is in its unexpandedconfiguration, protruding structure 12-2P of housing portion 12-2protrudes into and is received within the recess in structure 12-1.Because upper structure 12-2P may remain in place even when protrudingstructure 12-2P has been withdrawn from the recess, the presence ofupper structure 12-1P may help support display 14 on the outer surfaceof device 10 when display 14 is expanded. Structures of the type show inFIG. 17 may be formed across the entire width of device 10 and/orinterdigitated structures may be formed. The interdigitated protrusionsof housing 12 may sometimes be referred to as interlocking(interdigitated) rails, protrusions, strip-shaped protrusions,strip-shaped members, fingers, prongs, etc.

Device 10 may, in general, use trailing edge or leading edgeconfigurations for deploying display 14. In the arrangement of FIG. 17,for example, the roller and supplemental storage area used for deployingadditional portions of display 14 are located in housing 12-1, which issometimes referred to as the trailing side of housing 12, becausehousing 12-2 is pulled out of housing 12-1 and extends outwardly in aleading fashion away from housing 12-1. If desired, roller 80 may belocated in housing 12-2 and/or portions of display 14 may be storedwithin housing 12-2 when device 10 is in its unexpanded configuration.

A top view (front face view) of an illustrative pair of interlockinghousing structures with interdigitated members (e.g., interdigitatedmembers that extend across front face F) is shown in FIG. 18. As shownin FIG. 18, device 10 may have interlocking housing portions 12-1 and12-2 that are configured to allow housing portions 12-1 and 12-2 toslide towards and away from each other. This may allow the size ofdisplay 14 to be adjusted. For example, display 14 may be a flexibledisplay having a first portion stored inside housing portion 12-1 whendisplay 14 is in its unexpanded state and a second portion attached tohousing portion 12-2. When housing portion 12-2 is moved away fromhousing portion 12-1, display 14 may be pulled out of housing portion12-1 to increase the viewable size of display 14.

Housing portion 12-1 of FIG. 18 has a series of elongated members(sometimes referred to as fingers) such as members 12M1 and housingportion 12-2 may have a series of interlocking offset elongated members(fingers) such as members 12M2. The recesses formed between adjacentmembers on one portion (e.g., the elongated recesses between respectivepairs of adjacent members 12M1) are configured to receive the elongatedmembers of the other portion (e.g., members 12M2) and vice versa. Theinterlocking structures of FIG. 18 (e.g., the members of portion 12-1and the corresponding members of portion 12-1) are configured toslidably engage so that housing portion 12-1 and 12-2 slide with respectto each other while serving as a robust support for display 14. Theillustrative housing of FIG. 18 is shown in an expanded configuration(following sliding movement to move portions 12-1 and 12-2 away fromeach other) in FIG. 19.

The sizes of members 12M1 and 12M2 may be equal or members 12M1 may belarger or smaller than members 12M2. There are four of members 12M1 andthree of members 12M2 in the example of FIG. 18, but in general eachhousing portion may have any suitable number of protruding members(e.g., at least one, at least two, at least five, at least 10, 10-40,fewer than 100, fewer than 75, fewer than 30, fewer than 12, fewer than3, or other suitable number. Members 12M1 and/or 12M2 may extend atleast 10% of the length of device housing 12, at least 30%, at least75%, less than 100%, less than 60%, or other suitable amount.

The elongated fingers of housing 12 of FIG. 18 facilitate sliding ofportions 12-1 and 12-2 relative to each other along the longitudinalaxis of the elongated fingers (e.g., along axis 88, which may runparallel to longitudinal axis 56 of FIG. 1). Display 14 may be supportedby members 12M1 and 12M2 in both unexpanded and expanded configurations.When portions 12-1 and 12-2 are moved towards each other (e.g., bysliding portions 12-1 and 12-2 towards each other along axis 88),housing 12 may have an unexpanded configuration of the type shown inFIG. 18. When it is desired to expand display 14, portions 12-1 and 12-2may be moved away from each other (e.g., portions 12-1 and 12-2 may beslid apart along axis 88). This places housing 12 (and overlappingdisplay 14 of device 10) in an expanded configuration, as shown byexpanded housing 12 of FIG. 19.

FIG. 20 shows how portions of housing 12 (e.g., portion 12-1) may haveslots or other openings (see, e.g., illustrative housing opening 86) toaccommodate display 14. When device 10 is in its unexpanded state,display 14 may be doubled back on itself one or more times or otherwisestowed in the interior of housing portion 12-1 to reduce the exposedlength of display 2. When device 10 is expanded, display 14 may bepulled out of the interior of portion 12-1 through opening 86 and may besupported on the outer surfaces of members 12M1 and 12M2. Recesses 12R1for receiving members 12M2 may be open to the interior of portion 12-1or may be formed in the surface of a housing wall that covers the uppersurface of portion 12-1.

In arrangements of the type shown in FIG. 20, housing portions 12-1 and12-2 may be unequal in size (e.g., the interior volume of portion 12-2may be less than the interior volume of portion 12-1 as shown in FIG.20). In the illustrative configuration of FIG. 21, housing portions 12-1and 12-2 have sizes that are equal or nearly equal (e.g., the interiorvolume and/or exterior volume occupied by portions 12-1 and 12-2 maydiffer by less than 25%, less than 15%, or less than 8%). In this typeof arrangement, portion 12-1 may be used for display storage whendisplay 14 is unexpanded and portion 12-2 may be used to housing abattery, control circuitry, and other electronic components and/or othersets of components may be stored in housing portion 12-1 and/or housingportion 12-2.

In the arrangement of FIG. 21, members 12M2 are thin strip-shapedprotrusions that are received within shallow mating recesses 12R1. Ifdesired, members 12M2 may occupy some or all of the thickness of housing12. FIG. 22 is a perspective view of housing 12 in a configuration inwhich interdigitated members 12M1 and 12M2 extend through the entirethickness of housing 12. Housing portion 12-1 includes through-housingrecesses such as recesses 12R1 to receive members 12M2 and housingportion 12-2 includes through-housing recesses such as recesses 12R2 toreceive members 12M1.

Another interlocking sliding arrangement for housing 12 is shown in FIG.23. As shown in FIG. 23, housing portion 12-1 may be substantiallylarger than housing portion 12-2, which allows a portion of display 14and other electrical components to be stored in housing portion 12-1when display 14 is in its unexpanded state (e.g., display 14 may have aportion that is stored with two or three layers that are doubled back oneach other using one or more rollers or other structures, as describedin connection with FIGS. 10, 11, and 12). Components may also be storedin housing portion 12-2 or housing portion 12-2 may serve primarily as asupporting and connecting member that helps secure the ends of elongatedmembers 12M2.

FIG. 24 is a top view of housing 12 in an illustrative configuration inwhich telescoping supporting members (e.g., supporting housing portions12-3 of FIG. 9, which may be fully or partially formed from structuresin portion 12-1 and/or 12-2) have been formed from tubular members 12A(coupled to portion 12-1) and nesting tubular members 12B (coupled toportion 12-2). Members 12A and 12B may be relatively strong supportingmembers and may have a different shape than members 12M1 and 12M2. Forexample, members 12M1 and 12M2 may be formed from thin strip-shapedprotrusions that have relatively large surface areas for supportingdisplay 14 in a planar shape, whereas the telescoping support structuresformed from members 12A and 12B may have tubular shapes or othersuitable shapes. Members 12A and 12B in this type of arrangement may notbe used in directly supporting display 14, but may be sufficientlystrong to help maintain portions 12-1 and 12-2 in a desired angularrelationship with respect to each other while allowing members 12-1 and12-2 to be slid towards and away from each other to adjust the size ofdisplay 14 (e.g., to adjust the size of the portion of display 14 thatis visible to a user on front face F of device 10).

The interlocked structures of portions 12-1 and 12-2 may have shapes ofthe types shown in FIGS. 25, 26, 27, and 28 and/or other suitableshapes.

In the example of FIG. 25, members 12M2 are elongated (extending intothe page parallel to the Y axis) and have thin strip-shapedconfigurations. The thickness of members 12M2 in the Z dimension may beless than the width of members 12M2 in the X dimension. Members 12M2 maybe received for sliding movement within shallow recesses in the surfaceof portion 12-1. Portions of housing portion 12-1 that lie between theshallow recesses may form members 12M1. The shapes of the sidewalls ofmembers 12M2 and the corresponding shapes of the sidewalls of therecesses that receive members 12M2 may have triangular cross-sectionalshapes or other shapes that help retain members 12M2 within portion 12-1and prevent members 12M2 from being pulled out of the recesses upwardsalong the Z dimension while allowing members 12M2 and the rest ofportion 12-2 to slide with respect to portion 12-1 (e.g., along the Ydimension). Lubricious coatings and/or lubricant that is separate frommembers 12M1 and 12M2 may be provided to reduce sliding friction (ifdesired). Display 14 may be coupled directly to the exposed surfaces ofmembers 12M2 or a support layer (e.g., a thin flexible sheet) that formsa rear backing layer for display 14 may be coupled to the exposedsurfaces of members 12M2. Solid and/or segmented or grid-shaped sheetsmay be used as support layers.

In the example of FIG. 26, members 12M1 have recesses that receivelateral protrusions 12M2′ of members 12M2. Protrusions 12M2′ may haveshapes that help retain members 12M2 within the recesses formed inportion 12-1 while allowing members 12M2 to slide relative to portion12-1.

Another illustrative arrangement is shown in FIG. 27. In theconfiguration of FIG. 27, members 12M2 have downwardly extendingprotrusions 12M2″ that are received within corresponding recesses inportion 12-1. As with the illustrative arrangements of FIGS. 25 and 26,members 12M2 and other structures in portion 12-2 and the structures ofportion 12-1 may be configured to retain members 12M2 in desiredpositions in the X and Z dimensions while allowing members 12M2 to slidewith respect to portion 12-1 along the Y dimension (e.g., parallel tothe longitudinal axis of device 10 and/or other suitable direction).Display 14 may be coupled directly to the exposed surfaces of members12M2 (e.g., using adhesive, etc.) and/or a supporting layer that isattached to the rear surface of display 14 may be coupled to members12M2.

In the arrangement of FIG. 28, portion 12-2 includes a housing layerthat is coupled to a series of protrusions 12F. Protrusions 12F and theother protrusions associated with housing portion 12-2 such asprotrusions 12M2″ of FIG. 27, protrusions 12M2′ of FIG. 26, and/or theprotrusions on the opposing edges of each of members 12M2 of FIG. 25,may extend in a continuous strip along the entire length (or nearly theentire length) of elongated members 12M or, if desired, protrusions 12Fand other elongated member protrusions (see, e.g., FIGS. 25, 26, and 27)may be formed at a series of discrete locations along the lengths ofmembers 12M2.

In the examples of FIGS. 25, 26, 27, and 28, members 12M2 of portion12-2 have been provided with protruding portions that interlock withcorresponding recesses in portion 12-1. These arrangements, in which theelongated members of one housing portion slidably engage with recessesand/or elongated members of another housing portion, allow housing 12 tobe slidably moved between expanded and unexpanded states. If desired,portions 12-1 and 12-2 may be configured to interlock while permittingsliding motion between portions 12-1 and 12-2 using other engagementstructures. For example, members 12M2 may contain recesses that receivecorresponding protrusions from portion 12-1.

Input-output devices 34 (e.g., electrical components) such as opticalsensors and other optical components (e.g., light-emitting devices), maybe mounted on elongated housing members 12M1 and/or 12M2, may beembedded within elongated housing members 12M1 and/or 12M2, may bemounted behind members 12M1 and/or 12M2, may be mounted in interiorportions of housing 12, and/or may be coupled to other portions ofdevice 10. Illustrative locations for devices 34 are shown byillustrative locations 34′, 34″, 34″′, and 34″″ of FIG. 29. In each ofthese positions, one or more input-output devices 34 may emit light, maydetect light, and/or may otherwise receive environmental measurements,gather user input, and/or or provide output to a user. In arrangementsin which input-output devices 34 are mounted behind a housing wall(e.g., behind a portion of an elongated housing member or other housingstructure), one or more windows may be formed in the housing wall.Windows may be configured to pass light (e.g., transparent windowstructures in a housing may be formed to allow light to be emittedand/or detected by an optical component), may be configured to passradio-frequency signals (e.g., to accommodate an antenna), and/or mayotherwise be formed from an opening and/or an optically transparentstructure, radio-transparent structure, and/or other window structure inhousing 12. If desired, light and/or other signals associated withoperation of input-output devices 34 may pass through openings or otherwindow structures (e.g., transparent window regions) in display 14.

FIG. 30 is a perspective view of an illustrative expandable electronicdevice housing structure. In the example of FIG. 30, elongated members12M2 have been formed from thin flexible strips that accommodate bendingof the tips of members 12M2 around curved sidewall W at the curved endof housing portion 12-1 (e.g., the edge of housing portion 12-1 facingaway from housing portion 12-2). The curved end of housing portion 12-1may have recesses that receive members 12M2 and that guide members 12M2around bend axis 94. Members 12M2 of FIG. 30 and the other FIGS. may besolid pieces of polymer, metal, other materials, and/or combinations ofthese materials, and/or may each have optional linked segments such asillustrative segments 12G of FIG. 30 to enhance flexibility. Members12M2 and portion 12-1 may, if desired, have engagement structures (see,e.g., FIGS. 25, 26, 27, and 28) that help retain members 12M2 in desiredpositions relative to portion 12-1 and that help align portions 12-1 and12-2 at a desired orientation as portions 12-1 and 12-2 are slid towardsand away from each other. Flexible display 14 may be coupled to theexposed surfaces of members 12M2.

When device 10 is in an unexpanded configuration, display 14 may have afirst portion that lies flat on the upper surface of portion 12-2including the upper surfaces of members 12M2 on front face F of device10. Display 14 may also have a second portion that wraps around curvedsidewall W and a third portion that extends along some or all of rearface R. When expanded, members 12M2 slide out of the tracks formed fromthe recesses in portion 12-1 and portion 12-2 slides away from portion12-1. In its fully expanded state, the second and third portions ofdisplay 14 move around to front face F from sidewall W and rear face Rby following sliding members 12M2.

In the perspective view of FIG. 30, display 14 of device 10 is notpresent. FIG. 31 is a cross-sectional side view of device 10 of FIG. 31taken along line 91 of FIG. 30 and viewed in direction 93 in anarrangement in which display 14 has been attached to members 12M2. Thisallows display 14 to flex as display 14 travels from rear face R tofront face F of device 10 while sliding of portion 12-2 away fromportion 12-1 for display expansion. Display 14 (in this example) coversall of front face F and curved sidewall W and part of rear face R ofdevice 10 when display 14, device 10, and housing 12 are unexpanded asshown in FIG. 31. When expanded, display 14 slides to the front ofdevice 10 in direction 96 in response to movement of portion 12-2 indirection 52, allowing the size of display 14 to be enlarged for viewingby a user such as user 98 who is viewing device 10 in direction 100(e.g., display 14 is placed in an expanded viewable area configuration).If desired, larger portions of display 14 may overlap rear face R whendisplay 14 is unexpanded or smaller portions of display 14 may bepresent on front face F and curved sidewall W without being present onrear face R when display 14 is unexpanded.

If desired, separate display panels may be used to form display 14 in adevice with a sliding housing. A cross-sectional view of device 10viewed along longitudinal axis 56 in an arrangement in which display 14has overlapping and engaging sliding display portions is shown in FIG.32. As shown in FIG. 32, device housing 12 may have first portion 12-1and second portion 12-2. First portion 12-1 and/or second portion 12-2may have interior portions that contain control circuitry, input-outputdevices, batteries, and other electrical components. Portions 12-1 and12-2 may have slidable engagement structures. The engagement structuresmay be formed from overlapping and gripping sidewall structures inportion 12-2 that overlap the sidewalls of portion 12-1 and that holdportions 12-1 and 12-2 together while allowing portions 12-1 and 12-2 toslide with respect to each other along longitudinal axis 56. Portions12-1 and 12-2 may be electrically connected using flexible circuits,wires, sliding electrical contacts, wireless communications, and/orother communications path arrangements that allow circuitry in portions12-1 and 12-2 to interact while permitting sliding motion betweenportions 12-1 and 12-2. In some configurations, circuitry in portions12-1 and 12-2 may operate without communicating with each other.

Display 14 may have a lower portion such as portion 14B (e.g., a firstdisplay portion or first display) that is coupled to the front face ofhousing portion 12-1 and may have an upper portion such as portion 14Tthat is coupled to the front face of housing portion 12-2. When in theunexpanded state of FIG. 33, display portion 14T is viewable to a userand display portion 14B is not visible due to the overlap of portion 14Bby portion 14T. When in the expanded state of FIG. 34 (e.g., afterportion 12-2 has been slid away from portion 12-1 in direction 52), bothdisplay portion 14T and display portion 14B of display 14 are viewableby the user on the front face of device 10. This offers the user ofdevice 10 an enlarged viewing area. If desired, the presentation ofcontent on portions 14B and 14T can be coordinated so that displayportions 14B and 14T operate as a seamless unitary display surface.Configurations in which display portions 14B and 14T display separateimages that do not mate with each other along the seam between portions14B and 14T may also be used.

As described above, one aspect of the present technology is thegathering and use of information such as sensor information (e.g.,optical sensor information). The present disclosure contemplates that insome instances, this gathered data may include personal information datathat uniquely identifies or can be used to contact or locate a specificperson. Such personal information data can include demographic data,location-based data, telephone numbers, email addresses, twitter ID's,home addresses, data or records relating to a user's health or level offitness (e.g., vital signs measurements, medication information,exercise information), date of birth, eyeglasses prescription, username,password, biometric information, or any other identifying or personalinformation.

The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personalinformation, in the present technology, can be used to the benefit ofusers. For example, the personal information data can be used to delivertargeted content that is of greater interest to the user. Accordingly,use of such personal information data enables users to calculatedcontrol of the delivered content. Further, other uses for personalinformation data that benefit the user are also contemplated by thepresent disclosure. For instance, health and fitness data may be used toprovide insights into a user's general wellness, or may be used aspositive feedback to individuals using technology to pursue wellnessgoals.

The present disclosure contemplates that the entities responsible forthe collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage, or other use ofsuch personal information data will comply with well-established privacypolicies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities shouldimplement and consistently use privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining personal information data private andsecure. Such policies should be easily accessible by users, and shouldbe updated as the collection and/or use of data changes. Personalinformation from users should be collected for legitimate and reasonableuses of the entity and not shared or sold outside of those legitimateuses. Further, such collection/sharing should occur after receiving theinformed consent of the users. Additionally, such entities shouldconsider taking any needed steps for safeguarding and securing access tosuch personal information data and ensuring that others with access tothe personal information data adhere to their privacy policies andprocedures. Further, such entities can subject themselves to evaluationby third parties to certify their adherence to widely accepted privacypolicies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should beadapted for the particular types of personal information data beingcollected and/or accessed and adapted to applicable laws and standards,including jurisdiction-specific considerations. For instance, in theUnited States, collection of or access to certain health data may begoverned by federal and/or state laws, such as the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), whereas health data in othercountries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should behandled accordingly. Hence different privacy practices should bemaintained for different personal data types in each country.

Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplatesembodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to,personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplatesthat hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent orblock access to such personal information data. For example, the presenttechnology can be configured to allow users to select to “opt in” or“opt out” of participation in the collection of personal informationdata during registration for services or anytime thereafter. In anotherexample, users can select not to provide certain types of user data. Inyet another example, users can select to limit the length of timeuser-specific data is maintained. In addition to providing “opt in” and“opt out” options, the present disclosure contemplates providingnotifications relating to the access or use of personal information. Forinstance, a user may be notified upon downloading an application (“app”)that their personal information data will be accessed and then remindedagain just before personal information data is accessed by the app.

Moreover, it is the intent of the present disclosure that personalinformation data should be managed and handled in a way to minimizerisks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can beminimized by limiting the collection of data and deleting data once itis no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including incertain health related applications, data de-identification can be usedto protect a user's privacy. De-identification may be facilitated, whenappropriate, by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth,etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of data stored (e.g.,collecting location data at a city level rather than at an addresslevel), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data acrossusers), and/or other methods.

Therefore, although the present disclosure broadly covers use ofpersonal information data to implement one or more various disclosedembodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that the variousembodiments can also be implemented without the need for accessing suchpersonal information data. That is, the various embodiments of thepresent technology are not rendered inoperable due to the lack of all ora portion of such personal information data.

The foregoing is illustrative and various modifications can be made tothe described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implementedindividually or in any combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a housingconfigured to move between an expanded state and an unexpanded state; afirst series of elongated members coupled to the housing; a secondseries of elongated members interdigitated with the first series ofelongated members, wherein the second series of elongated members haveprotrusions that retain the first series of elongated members when thehousing moves between the expanded state and the unexpanded state; and aflexible display that is movable between an expanded viewable areaconfiguration when the housing is in the expanded state and anunexpanded viewable area configuration when the housing is in theunexpanded state.
 2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein afirst end of the housing moves toward a second end of the housing in afirst direction when the housing moves from the expanded state to theunexpanded state and wherein the protrusions extend from the secondseries of elongated members in a second direction that is different fromthe first direction
 3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 whereinthe second direction is normal to the first direction.
 4. The electronicdevice defined in claim 1 further comprising: a roller in the housing,wherein the flexible display bends around the roller when the display isin the unexpanded viewable area configuration.
 5. The electronic devicedefined in claim 4 further comprising: a tensioner coupled between theflexible display and the housing.
 6. The electronic device defined inclaim 5 wherein the tensioner comprises a flexible member coupled to theflexible display and an additional roller.
 7. The electronic devicedefined in claim 6 wherein the flexible member wraps around theadditional roller when the when the flexible display is in theunexpanded viewable area configuration.
 8. The electronic device definedin claim 1 further comprising: first and second pairs of nestingmembers, wherein the first and second series of elongated members areinterposed between the first pair of nesting members and the second pairof nesting members.
 9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 whereinthe first and second pairs of nesting members telescope when the housingmoves between the expanded state and the unexpanded state.
 10. Theelectronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: a sensor,wherein the first series of elongated members are separated by recessesthat receive the second series of elongated members and wherein one ofthe recesses overlaps the sensor.
 11. An electronic device, comprising:a flexible display configured to move between a first configuration withan expanded viewable area and a second configuration with an unexpandedviewable area; first and second housing portions configured to sliderelative to each other as the flexible display moves between the firstand second configurations; a support structure coupled to the firsthousing portion and overlapped by the flexible display; a first set ofnesting members interposed between the first and second housingportions; and a second set of nesting members interposed between thefirst and second housing portions, wherein the support structure isinterposed between the first and second sets of nesting members.
 12. Theelectronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the nesting members extendalong first and second opposing sides of the electronic device.
 13. Theelectronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the nesting memberstelescope as the flexible display moves between the first and secondconfigurations.
 14. The electronic device defined in claim 11 whereinthe support structure supports the flexible display in the first andsecond configurations.
 15. The electronic device defined in claim 14further comprising: an additional support structure, wherein the supportstructure has protrusions and the additional support structure hasrecesses that retain the protrusions when the first and second housingportions slide relative to each other.
 16. The electronic device definedin claim 15 wherein the protrusions are T-shaped.
 17. The electronicdevice defined in claim 11 further comprising: a tensioner coupled tofirst housing portion, wherein the tensioner comprises a flexible memberand a roller.
 18. An electronic device, comprising: a flexible displayhaving a first portion and a second portion; and a housing having firstand second sets of interdigitated members configured to move betweenexpanded and unexpanded configurations, wherein the first interdigitatedmembers have protrusions and the second interdigitated members haverecesses that receive the protrusions, wherein in the expandedconfiguration the first and second portions face in a first directionand wherein the in the unexpanded configuration the first portion facesthe first direction and the second portion faces a second direction thatis different from the first direction.
 19. The electronic device definedin claim 18 further comprising: a flexible support structure thatsupports the flexible display and that moves with the second portionwhen the housing moves between the expanded configuration and theunexpanded configuration.
 20. The electronic device defined in claim 19wherein the flexible support structure comprises linked segments.